Four of a Kind
| Series = Major Crimes | Season = 4 | Episode = 11 | Airdate = November 2, 2015 | Viewers = million | Writer = Ralph Gifford & Carson Moore | Director = Rick Wallace | Guests = | Previous = | Next = | Episode list = Season 4}} Four wealthy one percenters are left for dead outside a hospital emergency room in a twisty- curvy murder that leads through an impossible list of suspects, including a high school daughter with her father's iPhone password, a diabetic chauffeur, the owner of several LA parking lots and a mysterious woman with great legs who trips up Lt. Andy Flynn on her way to Mexico. Meanwhile, Rusty pursues a taboo subject for his next story on "Identity." The Victim *Neal Horowitz **In-house litigator for a diamond importer. **Part of an illegal poker game with a $500,000 pot. *Bronwyn Hicks **Chief financial officer for UV Solar. **Part of an illegal poker game with a $500,000 pot. *Anish Patel **Owner of Toxic Rock Records **Part of an illegal poker game with a $500,000 pot. *Howard Prager **Venture capitalist. **Survived the initial attack but later died in the hospital of his injuries. **Part of an illegal poker game with a $500,000 pot. *Lieutenant Andy Flynn **Dragged by Molly Pace's car while trying to arrest her. **Got a minor head injury and some cracked ribs. **Requires supervised care at Sharon Raydor's condo as a result. The Suspects *Dan Willis **Howard Prager's driver. **Had a $20,000 tip from Molly Pace. **Helped Molly take the victims in secret to the hospital. **Bought seven steak dinners for himself, Molly and the poker players. **The only one aside from the players and Molly allowed to know about the game. *Molly Pace **Aka "Madame X". **Arrested four different times by Vice. **Ran the illegal poker game. **A business associate of Howard Prager, **Seriously injured Lieutenant Andy Flynn while trying to escape. *Raymond Phan **Sole owner of Phan Auto Parking, the largest corporate donor to the Police Foundation. **Fifth player in the illegal poker game. **Stormed out angry fifteen minutes before the shooting began. *Noah Willis **Dan Willis' son. **Knew about the game as his father told him in case something happened to Dan. **Robbed the poker game expecting to not be recognized. **Murdered the players after Howard Prager recognized him from pictures and video. **Had the stolen money and the gun used in the murder in his room. Evidence Closing the Case After Anna Prager gives them the name of her father's driver, Dan Willis, he is picked up by the police. They learn that the night before, he was driving a car that matched the one that Madame X climbed into after dropping off the victims at the hospital which he left at his son Noah's detailing shop to get cleaned. When the car is retrieved, they find a lot of blood on the front seat. Dan's fingerprints also match those found on the steak dinners Buzz and Flynn found in the dumpster. When Dan is arrested, he has $20,000 on him that he claims is a tip from Madame X. After picking up Dan, Sykes reveals that Dan told them that he doesn't know who Madame X really is, but she is the one that runs the illegal poker game. After being allowed to briefly speak with Noah, the detectives question Dan who insists that he didn't kill Howard and the other poker players for the money. Dan reveals that Howard, who paid him extra to always be on-call, played in a number of illegal poker games and regularly had half a million dollars in Dan's car. Dan points out that if he'd wanted to rob Howard of that kind of money, there were easier ways to do it than to shoot up a poker game. Failure to report a crime is also not illegal so Dan can't be charged with that, but he cooperates, telling them that the seven steak dinners were for himself, Madame X, the four victims and a fifth player he never saw and who was gone before Dan returned with the food. Dan is able to give the police the restaurant he bought the dinners at along with the information that they were charged to Madame X's credit card. Using the charge for the dinners, Tao is able to identify Madame X as Molly Pace. Molly has four arrests by Vice, but no violent offenses. Molly also has no vehicle matching the description Dan gave registered to her and Sharon is left wondering where she got the $20,000 from after having just been robbed. Julio asks Anna Prager about Molly and Anna confirms that she knows Molly who does some investing with her dad. However, Anna warns that she has received a warning from her Preferred Skies app that Molly, who shares an account with Howard Prager, is flying to Mexico City soon from Santa Monica airport. At the airport, Sykes, Flynn, Tao and Provenza lie in wait for Molly to arrive to catch her plane. When she arrives, they try to move in on her quietly as she's unloading her trunk, but she spots Flynn and makes a break for it in her car. Flynn grabs onto the car, demanding that Molly stop. She finally does so in such a way that Flynn is violently flung from the car and sent rolling across the pavement. As Provenza tends to Flynn, Sykes blocks Molly's escape and she is arrested by Sykes and Tao. "Don't tell Sharon" an injured Andy pleads of Provenza before collapsing to the ground, unconscious. In the murder room, the other detectives cover for Flynn about his injury while he is getting checked out. They are left with several questions about Molly's involvement, namely how she could've expected to rob her own poker game without getting recognized, who the fifth player was and how come she has $300,000 in her luggage after getting robbed. Sharon and Julio demand answers from Molly who claims to be a victim since her poker game got robbed and four people were killed. Julio and Sharon point out her numerous crimes and Molly tells them that it makes no sense for her to have robbed the game when there were four players at the table since the pot never changes. Instead, Molly could've waited until there were only two players to commit a robbery. Molly insists that during the robbery, she was in the bathroom and had been for ten minutes. She didn't come out until Dan returned and started screaming. As Molly was running an illegal poker game, she couldn't call 911 so she dropped the four off at the nearest hospital. When the police point out Dan told them that Molly paid him the $20,00 to wait until she was done cleaning up the evidence, she tells them that she offered Dan $5,000 but he "jacked it up" to twenty thousand while she was in position to negotiate. Molly claims that she had the money in her purse already to make change for the game and was fleeing the country in fear after four people got shot. She also states that she does a lot of business with Howard who is worth more alive to her than dead. Molly explains that while the only people who were supposed to know about the game were the players, Dan knew because Howard never got a license and needed a ride. The pot with all of the money is also always on the table in plain view of the players. Julio and Sharon question Molly on the identity of the fifth player who Molly tells them got knocked out of the game fifteen minutes before the shooting and left angry. Molly asks if the identity of the player is worth something to them, causing Julio to question her about the source of $300,000 in cash she had on her when Molly was arrested. Molly tells them that its her savings from the last year and a half and Sharon implies that it hasn't been reported to the IRS. After Julio threatens to call the Feds and ask for her tax returns, Molly agrees to cooperate. She identifies the final player as Raymond Phan. Assistant Chief Russell Taylor recognizes Phan as the sole owner of the largest corporate donator to the police foundation. Tao also finds that Phan owns a .45 caliber handgun, the same caliber of gun used as the murder weapon. Taylor calls Phan to come in and he is read his rights as soon as he steps off the elevator with an attorney. DDA Hobbs explains how they have a statement from Molly Pace placing Phan at an illegal poker game where he stormed off angry fifteen minutes before it got shot up. While Phan's attorney refuses to confirm or deny his presence, Phan expresses concern over who survived after hearing that one victim is still alive in critical condition. Phan's attorney points out that Hobbs said the shooting occurred fifteen minutes after Phan left, but Hobbs corrects that she said it occurred fifteen minutes after he lost. Taylor tells Phan about how the $500,000 pot was stolen and Hobbs asks for Phan to sign a consent form for them to examine his gun. Phan and his attorney point out that Phan runs a quarter billion dollar business, losing $100,000 is nothing to him. Phan tells the group that the only reason he was angry was because Howard didn't fold when he should've and it resulted in Phan losing. Phan also claims to have told no one about the poker game. Phan tries to leave, but is stopped as he just admitted to being at an illegal poker game where three, maybe four murders were committed. This is grounds for a search warrant and Phan invokes his right to remain silent. Sharon announces that she is placing him under arrest for illegal gambling and will see where that leads them. Flynn returns to work with a few cracked ribs and eager to arrest Molly for the murders. However, Sharon, Taylor and Provenza admit that they can't be sure that she or any of their other suspects did it. They know that the killer had to know about the game and that it was worth robbing while at least one of the players must've recognized the shooter, resulting in them all getting shot. It also makes no sense for Molly or Dan if they were the killer to have taken the victims to the hospital where any of them could've survived and identified them. Sharon points out that the shooter must've believed he wouldn't be recognized when he robbed the game, but all of their suspects are known to at least one of the victims which is confusing. Provenza suggests that since Howard Prager was shot first, the connection is to him somehow. Taylor tells Sharon, Flynn and Provenza that they need to start notifications since all of their victims have had missing persons' reports filed on them and the media will soon get wind of it. Julio enters with news: the hospital just called to inform him that Howard Prager had died without ever regaining consciousness. Sharon is reluctant to inform Anna of her father's death and decides to ask Anna to hold off on contacting her relatives until they can figure the case out. Sharon reluctantly wakes Anna up to let her know the news as Noah Willis returns with Buzz from dropping off his father's insulin. Anna recognizes Noah despite having never met him before and explains that Dan, who had driven Anna and father around most of her life, showed her pictures and videos and told Howard and Anna stories about his son. The detectives quickly realize that Noah fits the description of someone who might know about the poker game, expect to rob it unrecognized and would ultimately be recognized by Howard Prager. Noah tries to make a break for it, but is quickly caught and arrested. Sharon and Provenza then approach Dan and tell him that they may have arrested the killer in the poker robbery, but they need to be sure that he didn't conspire with Noah. Sharon and Provenza ask if Dan, when cancelling dinner with his son, told Noah about the poker game and where it was being played. Sharon threatens to arrest Dan for four counts of felony murder if he conspired with Noah, but if he just mentioned in passing to Noah where he was taking Howard and why he is off the hook. Dan tries to confess to the murders, but it is an obvious lie quickly shot down by Sharon and Provenza. On Provenza and Sharon's prompting, Dan tearfully admits that he sometimes tells Noah where he's going, including the night before. Dan had a small stroke a couple of years before and he wants to make sure Noah knows where he is in case something happens to him. Dan notices Flynn in distress in Sharon's office and draws their attention to it. Sharon and Provenza stop the questioning to rush to Flynn's aid and call the paramedics respectively. Flynn's injuries result in his requiring care and supervision from Sharon. Over breakfast, Sharon explains that the police found the stolen money in Noah's room and the gun used in the murder. Noah had expected to be able to rob the poker game without being recognized or hurting anyone, but Howard Prager said his name so he was forced to shoot all four players to avoid getting caught. Guest Cast Co-Starring * Robby Rasmussen (Noah Willis) * Stacie Greenwell (Nurse) Recurring * Ron Marasco (Judge Steven Grove) Locations Episode Notes The Other Side of the Coin *Rusty begins working on his next story by trying to look into Alice Herrera's killer Slider's life before the murder. To this end, he tries to get permission from Raydor, Hobbs, the defense and Judge Grove. Raydor agrees to go along with Hobbs who Rusty is able to present a strong argument to and agrees to mow her lawn for the next eight years if he gets permission. The defense also agrees and Judge Grove, while surprised that Hobbs agreed, tells Rusty he will allow it on three conditions: Rusty informs him before and after every conversation with Slider and can review anything Slider says before its posted on Identity, he can expunge any and every word of any and every interview he doesn't like without exception or explanation and Rusty begins the process to transfer to UCLA effective that January which Rusty accepts. Trivia *Sharon mentions that Rusty got a job as a staff writer on the Santa Monica City College paper, but he tells her he was assigned a story he finds worthless. *Judge Grove's wife is one of the most published professors in UCLA's communications department and a fan of Identity to the point that she believes Rusty should be reporting on more interesting subjects than what Santa Monica City College has him assigned. As a result, she sets everything up so that Rusty can transfer to UCLA and major in communications though Judge Grove also suggests law school given Rusty's tendency to argue about everything. Rusty believes that Sharon got Judge Grove to help him as he quotes what Rusty told her about his assignment on the school paper. However, he dodges the question when Rusty asks him. *Andy is injured chasing a suspect, getting a minor head injury and a few cracked ribs. As a result, he moves in with Sharon and Rusty temporarily as he recovers. *At the end of the episode, Judge Grove suggests that Rusty attend law school. Starting in the second half of season 5, Rusty does in fact switch from journalism to law. In "Quid Pro Quo", Judge Grove reference the conversation from this episode when he congratulates Rusty. Episode Media *Rusty begins his new story into the life of Mariana Wallace's killer Slider by showing his audience the courtroom Slider will be tried in in five weeks and going over the list of charges that Slider will face. Category:MC Season 4 Category:Episodes Category:Major Crimes